Connor Zilisch’s rookie NASCAR Cup Series season has delivered another painful statistic.
Zilisch recorded his ninth DNF through 25 starts Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, another early ending in a season in which simply reaching the checkered flag has become a recurring challenge.
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The latest one came after 222 laps and in particularly frustrating fashion.
Zilisch was caught up in an incident involving Riley Herbst, leaving the 20-year-old rookie with nowhere to go as the situation unfolded directly in front of him. His No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet sustained race-ending damage, sending Zilisch to a 35th-place finish.
And his reaction over the radio captured the frustration.
“I’m so [expletive] horrible! Gosh, what am I doing!” Zilisch exclaimed.
But New Hampshire was about more than one wreck or one emotional radio transmission.
Nine DNFs in 25 races have turned into one of the defining numbers of Zilisch’s rookie campaign.
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Connor Zilisch Records Ninth DNF of Rookie NASCAR Season
The New Hampshire incident developed when Herbst crashed hard into the outside wall ahead of Zilisch.
With Herbst’s No. 35 Toyota directly in his line of sight, Zilisch’s view of the developing accident was compromised. Spotter Stefan Parsons repeatedly called for him to “stay low,” but Zilisch locked the front tires and slid up the track toward Herbst’s stopped car.
Zilisch avoided a direct hit but clipped Herbst before his own Chevrolet slammed the outside wall.
He immediately recognized what had happened, telling his team that he had locked up the front tires. The impact ultimately left the No. 88 without oil pressure and ended Zilisch’s afternoon.
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It added another DNF to a total that has climbed remarkably quickly.
Through 25 Cup starts this season, Zilisch has completed 5,278 laps. More importantly, he has failed to finish more than one-third of the races he has entered.
For a rookie trying to accumulate experience at NASCAR’s highest level, those lost laps matter.
Every early exit eliminates opportunities to learn how the car changes deep into a race, navigate late restarts and work through adjustments with a Cup Series team. That has made Zilisch’s first full-time season as much about trying to stay on track as finding outright speed.
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And recent history illustrates just how unusual his DNF total has become.
Zilisch’s DNF Total Stands Out Among Recent NASCAR Rookies
The drivers who preceded Zilisch as NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year didn’t come close to accumulating nine DNFs across their entire rookie seasons.
Shane van Gisbergen recorded four DNFs in 2025. Carson Hocevar had two in 2024. Ty Gibbs had five in 2023, while Austin Cindric finished his 2022 rookie campaign with four.
Zilisch has already surpassed all of them with races still remaining in 2026.
Not every DNF can be placed entirely on the driver. Mechanical failures, crashes triggered by other competitors and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time are realities of NASCAR racing.
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New Hampshire itself showed how quickly circumstances can turn against a driver.
But nine DNFs have nevertheless become impossible to separate from the story of Zilisch’s rookie year.
That makes the contrast surrounding him particularly striking.
Just days before New Hampshire, Hendrick Motorsports announced Zilisch as the future driver of its No. 48 Chevrolet beginning with the 2028 Cup Series season. It was a significant vote of confidence in one of NASCAR’s brightest young talents.
His immediate reality has been far less glamorous.
Zilisch left New Hampshire with another damaged race car, another unfinished race and another lesson from a rookie season that has provided plenty of them.
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The talent that earned him a future Hendrick Motorsports ride hasn’t disappeared. Neither has the expectation surrounding his career.
But before Zilisch gets there, he still has to finish navigating a rookie season that has been considerably tougher than the sport’s recent Rookie of the Year campaigns.
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